Khloe Kardashian’s Midnight Fireworks Surprise is a Wake-Up Call

County supe calls for investigation as gov’t agencies struggle try to figure out who should have been in charge; Coast Guard had received notice but doesn’t police noise

By Gary Walker and Joe Piasecki

Photo courtesy of Neil Budde

A massive fireworks display launched from a Kardashian yacht party just outside the Marina del Rey breakwater at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday has public officials scrambling to figure out which government agency should have been keeping up with the Kardashians.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe told The Argonaut on Wednesday that he is opening an official investigation into how the very loud fireworks display was allowed to happen and whether the incident points up a need for more interagency cooperation.

“I’m interested in finding out where the process broke down. We want to see if there’s something that we could look at and improve in the notification process. We’ve had numerous [nosie] complaints from Marina del Rey to Palos Verdes,” said Knabe, who represents Marina del Rey.

And for it to happen on a school night was completely unacceptable, Knabe added.

“You couldn’t do this in Burton Chase Park on a weeknight. This disturbed animals in the Ballona Wetlands, seniors, children and their parents. It really was inexcusable,” he said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin posted his displeasure to Facebook early Wednesday morning as TMZ and other local media reported that the fireworks originated from a birthday party that Khloe Kardashian threw for basketball star boyfriend James Harden.

“This ridiculous, rude and loud celebrity birthday bash woke up schoolchildren, scared pets and rousted thousands of people from a good night’s sleep. The city of Los Angeles did NOT permit this event,” wrote Bonin, adding that he’d checked in with several agencies, including the L.A. County Dept. of Beaches and Harbors.

Beaches and Harbors, which runs Marina del Rey, has no jurisdiction outside the marina breakwater and did not issue any permit for fireworks, spokeswoman Carol Baker said.

Activities in the Santa Monica Bay outside of the breakwater typically fall under the U.S. Coast Guard.

U.S Coast Guard Senior Chief Brenda Doris said her agency typically issues permits for events if they could have an impact on safety, travel lanes or a large number of participants, but in this case agency officials didn’t see a need to issue a permit.

“We were notified by the pyrotechnic company about the event, and that’s usually who we deal with,” said Doris, who was unable to confirm Kardashian involvement. “Unfortunately, we have no jurisdiction over noise ordinances. There were no violations as far as any federal statutes were concerned.”

Doris said the Coast Guard received noise complaints related to the fireworks from irate Marina del Rey residents.

A deputy with the Marina del Rey Sheriff’s Station said the station received “numerous calls” about noise related to the fireworks.

17 Comments

I think every single resident who was inconvenienced should — INDIVIDUALLY — file a small claims action against the pyrotechnic company and against Ms. Kardashian. The filing can be done on line for a relatively modest amount of money. The amount you seek can be up to $7500.

If they want to steal our sleep and ruin our nights, let’s make them pay and see how many of their days we can tie them up in court while we seek justice.

Two supporters of ours (Ballona Institute) – one who lives right near the levee in Playa del Rey, and one who lives near the northern jetty in Marina del Rey – both have posted on our Facebook site that they SAW the fireworks boat and it was INSIDE the breakwater. If you’d like me to put you in touch with them, I’d be happy to do so.

Also, if Don Knabe is so concerned about the wildlife in the Ballona Wetlands, why would he not be asking the federal government to consider whether it is a good idea – or not – to shoot off the County’s 4th of July Fireworks and New Year’s Eve fireworks right near the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

We’ve had someone setting off cherry bombs in the neighborhood around GlenAlla Park in the middle of the night which have sounded like gunshots so we were quite alarmed to be awakened further to banging noises we were unaware of! Very unsettling.

It seemed like it was exploding on the other side of Marina City Club. It was loud and inconsiderate for someone to shoot off fireworks at midnight. The Kardashians should write to the Argonaut and ask forgiveness. They also have to follow the RULES.

Aside of yet another Kardashian behaving selfishly, rude and of course just being obnoxious, FantaSeas certainly has ownership in this as does the party planner, the pyrotechnic company, etc… All of which are selfish and rude people who had a choice in letting this happen. Clearly these businesses don’t care about the hardworking members of our community and shame on FantaSeas who have now proven to be bad neighbors. I hope and pray that our councilmen do not let this slide and exercise/support the rights of the community to the fullest extent. I also hope that if there is loose language in the policies that they get re-written.

UNEXPECTED AND INCONSIDERATE. Although our home, which is in Mar Vista by the Santa Monica Airport, has double pane windows and good insulation, we and our dogs (of course) were awakened by the sound which was very loud. Extremely rude and annoying mainly because of the hour. We are working people and have real lives… I agree they should get fined.

It is impossible to escape these losers. Its bad enough that they are continually in the media acting like idiots, now we have to let them disturb everyone’s peace and quiet. The whole clan is a complete waste of oxygen. I wish their 15 seconds of fame would expire already!